“iCloud Backup” — Last year, I bought my 87-year-old grandfather an iPad 2 to replace the who-knows-what PC that was frustrating him constantly. He only used the PC for email and playing music, so it was a no-brainer. — Since my grandparents live in Arizona and I usually …

New Zealand Prime Minister Apologizes To Kim Dotcom — “Of course I apologize to Mr Dotcom, and I apologize to New Zealanders.” — These were the humbling words of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key today after a report from Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Paul Neazor found …

Camera+, a Top-Selling iPhone App, Expands to iPad — Camera+, an iPhone camera app that has been a top seller in the App Store for years, expanded to the iPad on Thursday. Not many people shoot photos with an iPad, but the core features of the app are its editing suite and integration of Apple's iCloud online storage service.

FCC chair grants AT&T's wish for a nationwide 4G band — AT&T asked, and the Federal Communications Commission most definitely listened. Three months after AT&T submitted a complex proposal to turn a very cellular-unfriendly band into pristine 4G airwaves, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski appears set …

Apple seeks patent for Siri automated assistant — Apple is seeking ownership of the technology and features that drive its voice-controlled Siri personal assistant found on iOS devices. — The company's extensive 51-page application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is entitled “Intelligent Automated Assistant.”

Samsung teases Galaxy Note 2 launch party on Oct. 24 — We already know that five carriers will get the 5.5-inch phone/tablet hybrid, but Samsung looks like it will hold a grand opening anyway. — Just one look at the stylus in Samsung's Save the Date invite we received today will tell …

Inside story: How Facebook decided to go native on iOS — Facebook's new app for iPhone and iPad has made an impression on users with a significant improvement in speed and performance. In the world of software development, the project has also gotten lots of attention because of the company's decision …

Amazon Could Be Working On A Square Competitor — Rumors have been coming in that Amazon is readying a mobile payments product that could compete with Square, Intuit GoPayment and PayPal Here. A tipster and an industry source both tell us that Amazon is going after smaller chains of retailers …

Seen in the wild: An Apple trade show booth — Here at the Surge Conference in Baltimore, Md. I stumbled upon this Apple booth on the trade show floor. Sure, many of the developers and operations engineers attending the conference toted MacBooks of some sort, but Apple doesn't show up at trade shows pitching its wares anymore.

Schmidt raps Apple for patent trolling — Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt made it clear Thursday that he is against patent wars in the mobile phone industry, expressing his frustration with Apple's recent move to file a myriad of legal attacks against users of the Android operating system (OS), including Samsung Electronics.